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Gratnells is delighted that Tariq Phillips will be joining us next month to head up our UK operation. There are few people with such a huge experience of our sector and I am grateful he has chosen Gratnells as his next port of call. Our best wishes go out to his former parish, Kit for Kids, and their new management structure. Martin Wells, who many of you will have known as their Middle East honcho has become their MD and I wish them the best.

We’ve decided to have a Gratnells Team bike riding challenge and raise money for charity at the same time. On the third of July this year Team Gratnells will be donning our custom fancy cycling jerseys and attempting to cycle from London to Cambridge. I’ve been cajoled into joining the team of eight despite not being a long distance cyclist – or any kind of cyclist for that matter! So I have from now until July to get to peak fitness.

We’re doing this cycle to raise much needed money for Breast Cancer Now, the UK’s largest breast cancer charity which is dedicated to funding research into this devastating disease. They believe that if we all act now, by 2050 everyone who develops breast cancer will live.

Please donate to our team effort – we’ll be putting our sweat and probably tears into this event. Every little helps – you can donate with this button below. Thank you

Gratnells is delighted to launch a new charging solution for schools and offices. The PowerTray is a standard Gratnells Deep or Extra Deep tray but with an electronic component that will store, charge and sync up to ten usb devices at a time using DDR (Dynamic Device Recognition)

The PowerTray comes in two heights – Deep and Extra Deep and both come as charge only or charge and sync variations. We have designed a trolley to hold the PowerTrays – the PowerTrolley comes in a range of colours and is lockable to securely store either two Extra Deep or three Deep PowerTrays. For more information and a guide to recommended retail pricing see this pdf.

We’re delighted to sponsor the UK School Science Technician survey conducted by PrepRoom.org

School Science Technicians are the unsung heroes of many a school science department and over the years their role has changed considerably. Preproom.org set out to survey Technicians in order to raise awareness of the role of a School Science Technician among school leaders, teachers and local and national government. The aim of the survey was to gauge opinion and gather job related data about the profession. The survery was completed by over 1,300 technicians currently working in UK school science departments.

At Gratnells we recognise the invaluable contribution that Science Technicians make to the smooth running and effectiveness of Science education in UK and overseas schools and we have been actively advocating the cause of technicians since we launched our annual Science Technician of the Year Award.

The results show that while there are many challenges to being a Technican today, not least with issues of pay, training and recognition, the vast majority enjoy their jobs. The full report can be read and downloaded below. Watch out on twitter for the hashtag #techognition

Today we decided to see if you could build a reasonable Christmas tree out of Gratnells trays. After a few failed starts and enlisting the help of our resident consulting engineer we managed to build something resembling a tree from green Jumbo F3 trays. With some tinsel and baubles you’d hardly know it wasn’t plucked from a forest! Now it has pride of place outside our Director’s box in the factory. Pictures show me and Marketing Director Richard Picking next to the tree and Marketing Coordinator Emily adding some final touches.

We’ve produced an infographic for our Gratnells Stage range to show how stepping up on a stage and performing can lead to an increase in confidence and communication skills for pupils. Class teachers and Drama teachers can print it off and stick it up in the classroom for inspiration. It’s below if you’d like a look. For more information on our stage sets visit our main website or our special stage site on www.GratnellsStage.com

We’re delighted to announce the launch of Gratnells Stage. This is a new venture for us into the portable staging marketplace. With the help of leading industrial staging designer Antony Hill we have launched a new modular staging system for schools, church halls, public spaces and anywhere that might need an easy to assemble stage.

Gratnells stage is very high quality and versatile. It’s easy to assemble and demount, anti slip, and is designed to be quiet unlike similar products.

We’re delighted to announce the winners of this Year’s Gratnells Science Technician of the Year Award. Third place goes to Julian Morel from Five Islands School, Isles of Scilly. Second place goes to Mark Robinson from St Peter’s, York. And the WINNER is Dr Elizabeth Carter of Warwick School, surrey. Congratulations to all!

So who is going to be the brand new winner of the Gratnells Science Technician of the Year? Well we can’t say yet as it is being officially announced at the ASE Science Technicians Conference in York tomorrow. Check back here to find out!

We were delighted to spot this picture on twitter from one of our customers. Little Dreams took this picture of some birds who had made a nest in one of our trays. Their Company Secretary had round it in her shed! Just goes to show just how versatile the trays are!